1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to vehicle operation control devices and methods, as well as programs, and in particular, to a vehicle operation control device and method, as well as a program enabling the operation of a vehicle to be appropriately controlled, even with respect to an unregistered driver who has not performed a specific registration process, according to each unregistered driver.
2. Related Art
A technique of individually specifying a driver through a recognition process using a face image has been conventionally proposed (see Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2007-186144, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2003-214241).
Furthermore, through the use of the above technique, a technique of specifying a driver by comparing information obtained from the face image imaged with cameras installed at the interior and the exterior of the vehicle, and external information that specifies an individual such as personal information and a drivers license registered in correspondence with the face image registered in a database in advance, and providing an optimum service for each specified individual has been proposed (see Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2001-060095, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2001-182812, and Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2007-308069).
In the techniques described above, some kind of comparison reference is registered in the database for every specific person or a card containing personal information such as a drivers license is read with a card reader and the like with respect to the person to compare (see Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2002-203244), and whether the compared person is a legitimate driver is determined depending on whether or not the information match the reference information.
According to the above-described technique, determination is made as “illegitimate” to the person whose information does not match the reference information, and a technique of urging new registration or limiting an automobile operation with respect to the person determined as “illegitimate” is proposed (see Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2006-350566, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2006-327346).
Furthermore, a method of notifying the legitimate registrant that the person determined as “illegitimate” is at the interior or the exterior of the automobile (see Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2001-014575, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2006-259828). A method of registering the “illegitimate person”, and determining as “illegitimate” only when a specific person is identified is also proposed.